* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)
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In the trial over the disappearance of Specialized Sergeant Bilal Batır, who allegedly give information to the families about the eight people, including three children, who were disappeared in Mardin's Dargeçit district in southeast Turkey from October 29, 1995 to March 8, 1996, the 21st hearing has been held at the Adıyaman 1st Heavy Penal Court.
As reported by Mezopotamya Agency, 18 people, including the station commander of the time, were put on trial for "premeditated murder."
The 21st hearing of the Dargeçit Jitem* case was attended by the families' attorney Erdal Kuzu and one person from each family. Defendants and their attorneys had excuses and did not attend the hearing.
The prosecutor of the hearing has demanded the acquittal of the defendants on the grounds that "no conclusive and credible evidence devoid of any suspicions indicating that they had committed the offense charged by participating in the act of killing could be obtained."
* What is JİTEM?"Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism" or "Gendarmerie Intelligence Organization" (JİTEM) is the controversial wing and intelligence agency of the Turkish Gendarmerie. It is claimed that JİTEM was active in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict. After the Susurluk scandal, former prime ministers Bülent Ecevit and Mesut Yılmaz have confirmed the existence of JİTEM. According to Murat Belge of Istanbul Bilgi University, who has reported that he was tortured in 1971 by its founder, Veli Küçük JİTEM is an embodiment of the deep state. In other words, it is used by "the Establishment" to enforce alleged national interests. Source: Wikipedia |
'Report was ignored'
Speaking at the hearing, attorney Erdal Kuzu demanded time to prepare their statements as to the prosecutor's opinion.
Kuzu said, "The policy of impunity dominates the judicial system as a state policy. Those who commit crimes on behalf of the state are taken under some sort of protection. The prosecutor's opinion in question is an opinion that fits this situation. The prosecutor has mentioned the evidence in favor of the defendants; however, the prosecutor has not talked about the strong evidence suggesting that the defendants committed the crime."
He underlined that "the prosecutor's opinion has also not referred to the report prepared by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), just as it has ignored the statements of the then sub-governor."
"The prosecutor's opinion has ignored the remarks of a specialist sergeant who was on duty in Dargeçit at that time and who said, 'We were on our way to the execution'," the attorney added further.
Noting that the prosecutor's opinion as to the accusations has said that the dead bodies of the disappeared people were not found, Kuzu stressed, "The prosecutor has ignored the reports of the Forensic Medicine Institution which give overlapping findings about the deceased who were found in Dargeçit and Kızıltepe and whose identities are written in the file."
"The defendants have been penalized in the eyes of the victims and people. The prosecutor's opinion as to the accusations given for this case file is devoid of a legal ground. It is discriminating. Therefore, we do not accept this opinion," added the attorney further.
Concluding his remarks, he demanded time for a detailed statement as to the prosecutor's opinion and requested that the trial be not adjourned for a long time so that it would not drag on. He also demanded that deceased Mehmet Emin Aslan be registered as deceased.
Families demand justice
Mahsum Kaya, Ömer Coşkun and Hazni Doğan, the relatives of the disappeared, said that they did not agree with the opinion as to the accusations and demanded time for their statements as to the accusations.
Abdülaziz Altınkaynak, the father of Davut Altınkaynak, showed the picture of his 12-year-old son and said, "Davut was 12 years old, we took him out of a 12-meter deep well. I do not want to live together with the murderers who burned a 12-year-old child to death. If there is justice... My 12-year-old son was massacred. I demand the ones who massacred him be penalized."
Announcing its interim ruling, the court board has given time to the parties to prepare their defense and statements as to the accusations.
It has also ruled that another written notification shall be sent to the recently submitted address of Adem Kul, the then prosecutor of Dargeçit district, so that his statement be taken as a witness. While the court ruling has demanded that Adem Kul's statement be taken via the Audio and Visual Information System (SEGBİS), it has also ruled that an order shall be issued to bring him by force. The next hearing of the case will be held on June 28.
What happened in Dargeçit?On October 28, 1985, two teachers were abducted in Dargeçit. A day later, the son of the Amara village's chief guard was also abducted by the PKK. After the bodies of the three people were found on October 30, detentions started in Dargeçit. On the same day, the house of the Doğan family was raided by a group consisting of 60 to 70 soldiers, special operations members, village guards and plain-clothed people and Seyhan Doğan (14) was detained. On that night and in the following few days, her uncle-in-law Abdurrahman Coşkun (21), her uncle's son Mehmet Emin Aslan (19), her brother Hazmi Doğan (11), Abdurrahman Olcay (20), Nedim Akyön (16), Hikmet Kaya (24), Süleyman Seyhan (57) and his daughter Fehime Çelik were also taken into custody. Raiding a house to detain Davut Altınkaynak (13) on the same night, soldiers detained his mother Hayat Altınkaynak because he was not at home. Threatening his mother to learn the whereabouts of Davut, soldiers managed to convince her that they would just interrogate and then leave him. After detaining Davut, who was staying at his uncle's home, they tortured him in front of his mother with Palestine hanging. Hazni Doğan and Fehime Çelik were also subjected to torture and witnessed what happened to those who were detained. Hazni Doğan, Hayat Altınkaynak and Fehime Çelik were released but nothing was heard from eight people, including two high school students and three children. According to the indictment, Specialist Sergeant Bilal Batırır, who was a Grey Wolf nationalist, was allegedly burned to death by his commanders Hurşit İmren and Mehmet, who feared that he might report them after he opposed what was done to the people. Seyhan Doğan's body was found on March 6, 1996, in a well after a person called her family by phone. Bodies of the other missing people could not be found although it is thought that they were killed. After an application by the families in 2009, an investigation was opened again. The indictment prepared by Midyat Chief Public Prosecutor's Office was accepted by Midyat Heavy Penal Court. Then Gendarmerie Batallion Commander Hurşit Tolon, Dargeçit District Gerdarmerie Commander Mehmet Tire, Dargeçit Central Gendarmerie Station Commander Mahmut Yılmaz and Vice-Commander Haydar Topçam and Specialist Sergeant Kerim Şahin are facing life sentence on the charge of premeditated murder. The case is being heard in Adıyaman city due to "security reasons." |
(EMK/SD)
